Michael Moore, USA
"Roger & Me"
USA 1989, 35mm, 85:00 min, col
Mentioned in the title with his first name Roger is noone else but the Chairman of the General Motors board of directors, Roger B. Smith. Moore shows his futile attempts to get Smith to discuss the companies policy with him. He wants to spell out to him the impact of the mass discharges on the city of Flint. Flint is not just any production site: Since 1908 after Buick Motor Car Company merged into General Motors, it has been the birthplace of the trust. With the beginning of the eighties Flint's development went continuously downwards. The trust's management relocated a substantial share of the actual production to Mexico, taking advantage of cheap wages, dismissing 30.000 workers in Flint.
Moore succeeded to generate one of the rare cases in which a general problem is exemplified by example of a single, well-observed incident - the American Dream and its dark side. The determined optimism of the victimized and their efforts to cope with their fate are as engaging as they seem grotesque. Although its focus on the gravity of its motive is never quite lost, the movie demonstrates such a strong sense of humor that most of even its toughest critics couldn't help laughing through most of its parts.
(Jörg von Uthmann)
Michael Moore
1954 in Flint, Michigan geboren, wo sein Vater 33 Jahre in den Autofabriken arbeitete. Betätigte sich als Journalist und Filmemacher. Bekannt für seine provokanten populistischen Dokumentarfilme, die unmissverständliche Angriffe auf abgestumpfte Unternehmen, opportunistische rechtsgerichtete Politiker und andere soziale Verfehlungen sind. Trägt gewöhnlich eine Baseballmütze und eine Brille. Mit 18 Jahren vom Davison-Bildungs-Gremium gewählt. Wurde während der Videoproduktion von „Sleep Now In The Fire“ verhaftet, als er seiner Rage gegen das System Ausdruck verlieh. Die Filmproduktion brachte am frühen Morgen auch die Börsenkurse in New York zum Einstürzen. Filmografie: The Awful Truth, 1999, TV Series • And Justice for All, 1998 • The Big One, 1997 • Canadian Bacon, 1995 • TV Nation, 1994, TV Series • Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint, 1992, TV • Two Mikes Don't Make a Wright, 1992 • Roger & Me, 1989
